Blessid Union of Souls biography
This article is about the band. For their self-titled album, see Blessid Union of Souls (album).
Blessid Union of Souls (sometimes abbreviated to Blessid Union) is an American rock band from Morrow, Ohio that was formed in 1990 by friends Jeff Pence and Eliot Sloan.
The band's first studio album, Home, had some success which lay with its lead single, "I Believe". The song popularized the band with local-area DJs and became one of their greatest hits. Their second album, the self-titled Blessid Union of Souls, did not have nearly the success of Home, but this did not last long, as their third album, Walking Off the Buzz, spawned the hit single "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)".
After the release of their greatest-hits album, Blessid Union of Souls: The Singles, which actually collected more outtakes and B-sides than previous hits, they released Perception. The band's sixth album, Close to the Edge, was released in 2008.
Early years
Blessid Union of Souls formed in 1990 in Morrow, Ohio with guitarist Jeff Pence, vocalist Eliot Sloan, keyboardist C.P. Roth (who had been in Ozzy Osbourne's touring band) and drummer Eddie Hedges. Sloan and Hedges had previously played together in a band in the 1980s called The Movies. About this time, Sloan and Pence later played together in a band called Slamm.
The band was heavily influenced by the cowpunk scene that was burgeoning around the time they formed. They spent several years honing their craft in Newport News; their song "Oh Virginia" tells the story of their "second home."
The band's name came from when Eliot Sloan had the name "Blessed Union of Souls" in his head, but didn't know what to do with it. In about 1990, he heard someone talking about "a union of souls blessed by God." He told the rest of the band members, who liked the name. The misspelling of "Blessed" as "Blessid" was to ensure correct pronunciation.
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